Numb: A Jak and Daxter Songfic
by Chewy Nemesis
Summary: Jak's reaction after Keira condemns him at the Class 2 Races. Set in the canon Jak II world with minor changes. Songfic to Numb by Linkin Park.


**A/N Just another one-shot songfic. This one is set in the canon Jak universe with only a few minor changes to make the story flow, and is in no way related to my other Jak story. JakKeira, with slight Kiera bashing. It's complicated.**

**Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Jak and Daxter or its affiliates.**

Numb: A Jak and Daxter Songfic

Jak scowled as he stormed out of Keira's Garage as the Class 2 Races broadcast their starting time.

_I'm tired of being what you want me to be_

What gave Keira the right to judge him just because he wasn't Jak from Sandover anymore?

_Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface_

He was captured as soon as he arrived, dammit! It was adapt or die, something she clearly didn't understand.

_I don't know what you're expecting of me_

That was a lie, Jak knew exactly what Keira expected. She expected the Hero of Sandover to have made it through two years of Haven City with nary a scratch on him, to remind her of home and smile at her as they rode off into the sunset that was another Rift Gate back home. Because that was how a Hero would do things, he would protect her and make it right, not saying a word but simply smiling at her and letting her know in that single moment that everything was going to be alright.

_Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes_

And Keira didn't think, even for a moment, that Jak hated what he'd become just as much as she did, that he didn't want to be the Eco Freak anymore. Jak straightened his back and scowled again, the so called 'Hero' died in prison while being pumped full of Dark Eco.

_Every step that I take is another mistake to you_

She hadn't even met Dark, but was so quick quick to condemn him, us, just because of hearsay. She was ready to accept Errol's word over his in an instant, just because this angst-ridden man she found in the place of her childish fantasy insulted her by his very presence.

_I've become so numb I can't feel you there_

_Become so tired so much more aware_

Whatever blossoming romance they ever had was destroyed by the first Dark Eco injection. Because he was forced to grow up while she curled up in a corner and cried like a naive little girl. And any remaining feelings were blasted away by their last encounter, one of the only things left that he let touch his heart burned like everything else, leaving smooth stone in its place.

_I'm becoming this, all I want to do_

_Is be more like me and be less like you_

Well fuck her. Who the hell does she think she is? He tried to be nice, reasonable like he used to be, but in the end, let her be that little girl. He no longer had time for her, revenge is a Big Kids game. Jak squashed the feeling of pain that arose when he decided to cut her off '_you do it your way, and I'll do it mine, just don't come crying to me when the walls fall down.'_

_Can't you see that you're smothering me_

_Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control_

The race had finished, and Jak was walking out onto the Stadium Entrance with Daxter chattering in his ear, giving a blow-by-blow account of the race he just won. Jak's mind, however, went back to Keira, and the look of guilt she gave him as he walked out of the Garage. She wouldn't let go, it seemed, of the hope that her Jak was still there somewhere inside of the icy exterior presented.

_'Cause everything that you thought I would be_

_Has fallen apart, right in front of you_

It must be a battle for her, Jak mused as he kicked the Hoverbike's owner out of the seat, and sped off while waiting for the next mission order to come in. Keira was obviously at war with herself, reconciling the angry almost-stranger with the boy she grew up with and knew better than herself. She was obviously asking the question of whether or not she imagined feeling him in the new Jak, despite all of the evidence to the contrary; the meetings the two had only compounded the issue.

_Every step that I take is another mistake to you_

That didn't change the fact that this new revenge-obsessed man didn't frighten her a little.

_And every second I waste is more than I can take_

He knew, and didn't want to admit it to himself. Keira's decision would decide the future of both of them. It was all he could do not to turn around and race right back to her and demand an answer to whether or not the last remains of Jak of Sandover die with her inability to find him.

_I've become so numb, I can't feel you there_

He was more concerned with himself at this point.

_Become so tired so much more aware_

The world had pushed him to the edge, will he fall?

_I'm becoming this, all I want to do_

It was so easy to lose himself to vengeance.

_Is be more like me and be less like you_

But just who are you now, Keira?

_And I know I may end up failing too_

The darkness was waiting for him, it resided in his blood now.

_But I know you were just like me_

_With someone disappointed in you_

But would it be him, or Errol she turned down in the end?

_I've become so numb I can't feel you there_

In Jak's musing, his zoomer bumped into a Krimzon Guard and sent him sprawling.

_I've become so tired so much more aware_

Now every Guard on foot in the vicinity turned and trained their weapons on him, while those who recognised him reaching for their comm units to call for backup.

_I'm becoming this all I want to do_

In his daze, the Guards actually managed to get in a few lucky shots and blow up his vehicle. Jak didn't care, he had some angst issues to work out; he set his MorphGun to Blaster, and began to shoot any Guards he could see. There were a lot of them; it was very cathartic.

_Is be more like me and be less like you_

Feeling the familiar itch of sufficient Dark Eco in his body, and with the Guards' cavalry arriving, Jak gave in and transformed.

_I've become so numb I can't feel you there_

The pain blocked out the rest of the world as Dark Eco exploded from his rapidly changing body.

_I'm tired of being what you want me to be_

Dark Jak roared, the eco exploding from his body preceding the wild slashing of his claws.

_I've become so numb I can't feel you there_

Dark Jak blazed a path of destruction, always taking the route with the most Guards and absorbing any Dark Eco from their corpses to continue to fuel the transformation. Because of where the first calls came from, this led him on a long road back to the Stadium.

_I'm tired of being what you want me to be_

With a final Dark Blast, all the Guards in the area were slaughtered, with no new ones taking their place. The subsequent silence broken only by the crashes of a few Cruisers and Hellcats as their anti-gravity generators were destroyed.

Just before Dark Jak gave into fatigue, he looked up towards the Stadium and smiled nastily at Keira, who stood just outside her Garage.

He then transformed back.


End file.
